Category: News

I have been involved in sports all of my life. My parents were very active, and from an early age, I had a racquet or stick in my hand. I loved participating in team and individual sports. In elementary school, I captained our girl’s soccer team. In high school, I played on our girl’s field hockey team and tennis team, while also competing within the Okanagan in racquetball and tennis. Some of my fondest memories were competing in ladies doubles tennis tournaments with my mum as a teenager. Nowadays, I am an avid singles and doubles squash player. My sister and I compete in ladies doubles and are known as the “Twisted Sistas”. She and I are also members of our amazing ladies squash team called “Team Fierce”. Our mum would be very proud of us continuing her squash legacy.

Team sports is where I learned how to be part of a team, how to work as a team, and how to deal with a team. You do not always choose who is on your team or who you are going to work with. But in a sport where you shine as an individual because of your work as a team, you quickly learn how to come together to make great things happen. The values, attitudes, and goals of a team impact its performance and success.

It is a widely held belief in the sports world that the team culture can have a big impact on how a team functions and performs. How team members, think, feel, behave and perform are all influenced by the environment in which they practice and compete. For example, have you ever been on a “downer” team that is filled with negativity, unhealthy competition and conflict? It sure doesn’t feel good and it can definitely interfere with performing your best. I believe the same is true in the workplace.

At Bethany, we all have a role in creating an organizational culture that is positive and high performing. A culture is the expression of a team’s values, attitudes, goals and relationships. The culture establishes norms of acceptable behavior on a team, either explicitly or implicitly conveying to members what is allowed and what is not. These norms can dictate to team members how to behave, communicate, cooperate and deal with conflict. Bethany’s values “We Care”, “We Show Respect”, “We Are Responsible” are so important because they guide the decisions and choices we make as a team and as individuals.

I encourage everyone to make team culture a team effort and focus on creating a healthy team culture focused on high levels of performance and success for the team and individuals. Let’s continue to work together as a team and make great things happen for those we serve.

If you have any questions, or would simply like to share your ideas, please contact me directly at lisa.watson@bethanyseniors.com.

Kind regards,

– Lisa

Resident and Family Engagement — One Year Later

Just over a year ago I wrote about the shift in Continuing Care towards greater engagement of residents and families in the delivery of care and how this shift has been reflected in Accreditation Standards, Continuing Care Health Services Standards and the Health Quality Council of Alberta Surveys. It was also at that time that Bill 22 (The Resident and Family Councils Act) received Royal Assent in the Alberta Legislature. Bill 22 acknowledges the crucial role of the resident and family voice on issues including food, programs and activities and requires all Continuing Care Operators to ensure Resident and Family Councils are established at each facility.

Significant work has been done at Bethany since Bill 22 was passed. We have developed policies and procedures for the establishment of Resident and Family Councils and I am pleased to say that we now have councils in place at each of our Care Centres with the exception of Bethany Riverview which is just getting established now six months after opening its doors.

Each Resident and Family Council looks a little bit different in terms of its structure and meeting frequency so that the unique issues at each site and in each community can be appropriately addressed. Some of these councils are chaired by residents and some by site leadership.

All of the Resident and Family Councils across Bethany are active, meet regularly and spend time addressing issues such as Food Services, Activities and Programming on site. In addition, our site leaders provide updates to the Councils on Audit results as well as staffing and programming changes across the organization. These forums provide a very critical venue for residents and families to ensure their voice is heard. Regular updates on the activities of the Resident and Family Councils are provided at each meeting of the Quality/Safety/Ethics Committee of the Board so the organization is aware of the concerns and issues facing residents and families.

In the summer of 2019, the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) will be conducting a Resident and Family Experience Survey at some of our sites. Through this process, the HQCA collects feedback from residents and families and then produces a report with comparison data to the previous survey results so that Continuing Care Operators can use the information to support quality improvement efforts. Given the hard work that has been done at Bethany over the last year, I am hopeful that we will receive positive feedback from our residents and families.

This is very important work and all of us have an important role to play in engaging our residents and families as we live into our mission of Creating Care Communities.

As always, I welcome any ideas or suggestions you may have. Please send them to me at nancy.hughes@bethanyseniors.com.

Regards,
— Nancy